Man guilty of killing CMU student while driving under the influence of marijuana

By JAMESON COOK/@jamesoncook

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

A 21-year-old man was convicted Tuesday of driving under the influence of marijuana and causing the death of his girlfriend, who was a student at Central Michigan University.

Timothy Wilds of Sterling Heights likely faces time behind bars for the December 2010 crash in his hometown that killed Brittany Nowicki, 18, of Macomb Township. The main charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

A jury deliberated about 2-1/2 hours Tuesday following a three-day trial in front of Judge Mary Chrzanowski in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.

He was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 11.

Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Corey Newman only had to prove that Wilds had marijuana in his system, and a Michigan State Police report showed Wilds had two nanograms per milliliter of tetrahydrocannabinol, marijuana’s active ingredient, in his blood six hours after the crash.

“The evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant was the cause of the victim’s death and he had a schedule 1 drug in his system,” Newman said. Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug.

Newman also tried to show that Wilds’ driving was affected by the marijuana even though he did not necessarily have to prove that. He noted the “manner” of his driving and his poor judgment.

Wilds’ defense attorney, James Maceroni, attacked the reliability of the blood sample, contending human error could have occurred. He noted the sample changed four hands at the Michigan State Police Crime Lab and that scientists labeled sample containers using a “Sharpie” pen.

Maceroni presented Geoffrey French, head of the toxicology unit at the lab, who began overseeing the crime lab after the crash. He said controls on ensuring accurate accounting of samples needed improvement when he arrived.

Wilds chose not to testify.The crash occurred shortly before 6 a.m. Dec. 10, 2010, on three-laned Plumbrook Road during snowy conditions while Wilds was driving Nowicki to her home before he went to work. He passed a slower-moving eastbound vehicle, lost control of his Jeep Wrangler and crashed into an oncoming vehicle. Nowicki, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown and died from massive head injuries.

Wilds was crying and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Nowicki when others arrived on the crash scene.

Newman conceded that jurors could have been sympathetic toward Wilds even though it goes against the law. He reminded jurors to refrain from that.

“That was always a concern,” Newman said. “It would be easy to have sympathy in this case for the defendant and the defendant’s family. Sympathy is not something you’re supposed to consider.”

Nowicki’s parents chose not to attend the trial “because it would have been too difficult for them,” Newman said.

“They are saddened not only because of Brittany Nowicki but for the defendant and his family,” he said.

Nowicki’s aunts and uncles did attend, he said.

Several of Wilds’ family members observed the trial.

The pair dated for three years. Nowicki graduated from Dakota High School and was attending Central Michigan University.

Wilds, 19 at the time, graduated from Stevenson High School and was working as a carpenter with his father.